Singletracks (January 9, 2026) by Greg Heil

Greg set a personal record for miles ridden in 2025, and with it, came a whole lot of new trail exploration! Here are the best new trails that he discovered last year.

I launched into 2025 with the goal of shattering my limiting beliefs, and man, did last year deliver!

My top-line mileage goal for the year was 5,000 miles across all activity types, but I blew right by it in mid-October, ending the year with 6,282 miles! 🤯 Of those miles, 2,413 were on the mountain bike, and 2,535 were on the gravel bike.

In 2024, I set a previous highwater mark of 4,193 annual miles, so stretching to 5,000 — an 800-mile increase — felt like a pretty big ask for 2025. So imagine my surprise when I actually notched 2,089 more miles than I had the previous year! That amount of improvement year over year is the definition of shattering limiting beliefs. Who knows what 2026 has in store?!

While it might be easy to write me off and say, “Oh, Greg just got lucky this year,” 2025 had its fair share of challenges and setbacks. In August, I suffered an overuse injury in my left knee while backpacking, which hindered me for about two months, cancelling bikepacking plans in September. And then in October, I strained some soft tissue in and around my right knee during a violent dismount in Moab, which is still nagging me as I write this in January. Despite these and a few other setbacks, like the odd saddle sore here and there, I was still able to notch the best year of riding of my life.

All told, I pedaled in eight countries and 12 US states/Canadian provinces in 2025. Five of the countries were on the European Bike Tour — one of my other big goals for the year, with my wife Christine. While most of the Euro tour followed paved bike paths and a combination of paved/gravel roads, there were still a few slices of sweet singletrack along the way, too.

As I do every year, I spent some time looking back through all of the new trails that I explored, and I was amazed at the ground I covered. If you’re looking for a little inspiration for your 2026 plans, take a look at the very best new trails that I explored in 2025, plus an honorable mentions list of the best repeat rides this year:

13. Arizona Trail: Oak Tree Canyon to Casa Blanca, Patagonia, Arizona

While my most epic bikepacking adventure this year was a 90-mile overnight on the Black Canyon Trail, I can’t honestly call it one of the best trails of the year. The Black Canyon was beautiful, it was tough, but it needs some serious maintenance.

On the other hand, this 37-mile stretch of the Arizona Trail was one of the best point-to-point backcountry rides of 2025. The terrain was stunning, the trail tread was well-built, and there were even some interesting historical sites along the way. Yes, there are still some dirt road segments along this stretch, but trail advocates are actively building singletrack to get riders off the roads. I pedaled some brand-new stretches of singletrack and spotted a new build that appeared to still be in progress. This was already a great ride, and it will only get better in the near future.

 

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